Power Up Smoke Alarms

Neighborhood News - ORLANDO AREA

It's time to change those clocks again - and, according to the International Association of Fire Chiefs, time to change the battery in your smoke detector.

For the 12th year, the association is encouraging people to swap out the batteries in their smoke detectors when they turn their clocks back by one hour Sunday, Oct. 31.

According to the association, functioning smoke detectors cut the risk of dying in a home fire nearly in half. Nearly 80 percent of home fire deaths in this country have occurred in homes without smoke detectors.

LIGHTING UP HALLOWEEN

The Orlando Utilities Commission has shifted its street light maintenance program into high gear, just in time for the little ones to be out on Halloween night.

Daylight-saving time also ends on Halloween, making the streets dark earlier.

OUC and the city of Orlando urge people to report street light problems promptly. To report a light that's out, call 737-4222 Give your name, telephone number, the location of the light, and whether it's out, flickering or sporadically dark.

Residents also can report an outage by going to the OUC's Web site at www.ouc.com

SEMINAR TO TEACH VALUES

Parents who are looking for help instilling values in their children can find advice at a seminar next week.

How to Raise Children with Strong Morals and Values will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the St. James Catholic Cathedral parish center, 215 N. Orange Ave. in downtown Orlando.

The two-hour session will be led by Mark Viator, a psychologist and director of counseling services at Our Lady of the Lake College in Baton Rouge, La. He will advise parents how to teach self-discipline, honesty, respect and other values.

The cost is $7 per person. For information or registration, call (407) 422-8624.

Post Properties of Atlanta purchased the building at 431 E. Central Blvd. this year and began construction on a $27 million project that will include 243 apartments, a parking garage and retail space.

Lee's was closed for lunch during renovations, but remained open for dinner.

When the project is completed next year, Lee's will have new banquet facilities and an indoor-outdoor cafe. It will be able to seat about 1,000 people.

CHECK OUT CHARTER IDEAS

Anyone interested in hearing local officials' ideas for making over - or leaving untouched - the Orange County charter can attend a meeting at 3:30 p.m. Monday at the Orange County Administration Center's commission chambers.

The charter review commission, which reviews the county's version of a constitution every four years, will hear from the mayors of Ocoee, Oakland and Maitland.

Charter members will report on public hearings earlier this month in Belle Isle and Windermere, among other towns.

The most hotly contested issue to resurface so far is the debate over whether the chairman's and county commissioners' positions should be chosen through partisan elections. Now, they are nonpartisan.